Nick Thompson — Editor-In-Chief of WIRED

“Procrastination is the enemy of good editing.”
– Nick Thompson

Nick Thompson (@nxthompson) is the editor-in-chief of WIRED. Under his leadership, Wired has launched a successful paywall, a Snapchat channel, and an AMP Stories edition; it has also been nominated for National Magazine Awards in design and feature writing.

Nick is a contributor for CBS News and regularly appears on CBS This Morning. He is also co-founder of The Atavist, a National Magazine Award-winning digital publication. Prior to joining Wired, Thompson served as editor of NewYorker.com from 2012 to 2017.

In this conversation, we cover a wide range of topics, questions, and skills, including:

What makes a good pitch?
How does a good features writer (or editor) “map” a story?
How does writing get optioned for feature film, and what are important deal points?
How can publishers (and website or blog owners) hire and pay good long-form writers?
And much more…

Want to hear another podcast with an influencer in the media? — Listen to my conversation with Ezra Klein. In this episode, we discuss influencing the rules of the game by which this country is run (overall politics — not partisan), how Ezra lost 60 pounds, and his ascension into the ranks of the most respected media companies in the world (stream below or right-click here to download):

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QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY: What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

What prompted one man to leave Nick’s reading at a bookstore in Wisconsin? [06:32]
Nick’s best practices for busking in New York. [07:35]
Why did Nick choose writing instead of music as a full-time career? [11:20]
Nick describes how he got tracked into journalism in “a slightly odd way.” [13:04]
Nick gets kidnapped busking in Africa. [16:57]
How did Nick pitch his kidnapping story to the Washington Post? [19:49]
The grading process for pitches at Wired under Chris Anderson, and how the story that formed the basis for Oscar-winning film Argo came to be — in spite of being graded poorly. [21:25]
How does a writer make a good pitch? [25:38]
Are story length and deadline part of the pitching process? [28:18]
What does “TK” mean to a writer, how is it useful, and why is it spelled that way? [28:59]
How (and why) does Nick’s pitch grading process differ from Chris Anderson’s? [30:04]
Commonly unanswered questions in a pitch. [30:55]
What deal points are important to Nick when a story is in the process of being optioned for film, and how might a writer maximize the chance of a story getting optioned? [32:16]
What can a writer do to protect a story from getting locked up in option limbo or poached? [35:20]
How does a writer get an agent? [39:12]
The lessons Nick learned at NewYorker.com about what an audience really wants from long-form magazine stories and more ephemeral Web content. [40:50]
How does a prospective magazine or publisher calculate fair payment to a writer for a long-form story? [45:29]
What is Nick’s process for editing the work of world-class writers? [52:51]
How does someone develop a keen eye as a writer or editor? [57:27]
What you can learn about structure by mapping a story — as an editor, writer, or reader. [59:13]
When he’s got a whiteboard in front of him, how does Nick organize his map of a story? [1:01:32]
My recommendation for people interested in structure and story mapping. [1:02:25]
How John McPhee plays into Nick’s story at The New Yorker. [1:03:28]
How a manhunt led to Nick’s entry in the startup game. [1:06:51]
Why Nick runs to and from work every day. [1:13:25]
Nick’s fight with thyroid cancer. [1:15:33]
When journalism doesn’t work, there’s always law school. Nick talks about overcoming periods of self-doubt. [1:19:16]
How did Wired find Nick and lure him away from law school? [1:23:13]
What books does Nick give most often as gifts? [1:28:36]
What new behavior, belief, or event had the most positive impact on Nick’s life? [1:30:24]
Does Nick observe any particular mindfulness or meditation routine? [1:32:14]
What would Nick’s billboard say? [1:34:09]
Parting thoughts. [1:35:51]

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